Age at onset of natural menopause and associated factors in women, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Background: Menopause is the permanent cessation of menstruation. Women tend to live one third of their life during the postmenopausal period. The timing of natural menopause varies genetically, ethnically, and geographically. Objectives: The aim of the study was to know the timing of menopause and prevalence of associated symptoms and explore the existing gap of postmenopausal women health needs. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study conducted from February to March 2024 in Addis Ababa. A pretested standardized questionnaire was used to collect data. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 20. Result: Data was collected from 408 eligible participants with mean age of 51.78 ± 5.43 years. The mean age of menopause was 45.05 (±4.65) years. Premature menopause was reported in 10.0%. Only 1.5% had late menopause (?55 yrs) while 47.3% (193) had menopause at ages 45-49 years and 12.5% at age of 50-54 years. Hot flush was the commonest peri-menoausal symptom experienced by 202 (49.5 %) of the participants.  Night sweating 199(48.8%), mood change 147(36.0%), history of peri-menoausal weight gain 158 (38.7%) and sleep disturbance 128(31.4%) were among the symptoms reported by participants. Multiparity (AOR= 3.4, 95%CI=1.138-9.796) and previous implant contraception use (AOR= 2.05, 95%CI=1.033-4.058) were significantly associated with age at menopause. Conclusion: The mean age of menopause in our study was 45.05 years. The prevalence of pre mature menopause was 10.0% which is higher than prior reports. Hot flush was the commonest menopausal symptom. Parity and use of Implants were significantly associated with age at menopause of ? 45yrs.